Page 49 of Marry Me, Right Now

Forcing myself to step away and sit back down, I surveyed the contents of the box again. “Do you like these? Will you wear them for the wedding?”

She stared at me, aghast. “It’s a gift from my mother in law. I absolutely must wear these. If I didn’t, it would be like slapping her in the face.”

“Oh. Well, do you like them?”

“Sure. I can put the clip in the back of my hair, and the earrings are nice. They’re a bit fancier than the others I was looking at.” Her eyes grew wide. “Oh! This is why Zachary didn’t want me to buy earrings. They must have been planning this,” she laughed.

“Well, if it’s time for gift-giving,” I said, “Hold on a minute.” I rushed to my room, coming back with a small gift bag. “Don’t get excited, it’s not diamonds.”

Her nose crinkled. “Good. The one I have is a bit much,” she said, but I saw her tiny smile when she glanced at her left hand.

“Well, three now,” I said, gesturing to the earrings.

Her eyes grew wide. “Those can’t be real.”

“Jewelry from my mother? Oh yes, they’re real.”

“Holy shit.” She clapped her hand over her mouth.

I laughed, holding out the bag. “I promise no sparkling rocks in here.”

She took the bag and dug out a new pink, silver, and bronze flecked notebook, and silver pen, looking up at me with utter delight. “I don’t know what to say.”

“I figured since you’re starting a whole new phase of your life, and you’re always taking notes, maybe a new notebook is in order.”

Mia stood up and hugged me. “Thank you, Jacob. That’s incredibly thoughtful.”

I held her close. The slight spicy vanilla scent of her hair was earthy and comforting. “You’re very welcome.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything,” she said, looking upset.

“No, please,” I said, sitting us both back down. “You’re helping me save a beautiful old house. If you hadn’t noticed that the paperwork was more important than George was letting on, and found the hidden code, my uncle’s house would have been torn apart by a spoiled ass.”

“I’m so glad you called him that. It’s not my place to say it, but yes.”

“You can’t kick family out of your life. They’re always there, so you have to find ways to work around them.”

“Yeah. My real family are my friends.”

“Oh right – I meant to ask. Are you making Rayanne and Lauren wear hideous dresses?”

Her shoulders bounced with laughter. “No way. Zachary helped us pick out lovely dresses that they’ll actually wear again.”

“Good.”

Mia looked through her notes. “I think I have one more text to send, then that’s it for tonight.”

“Awesome. Do you want to watch a movie or something?” She looked extremely relieved. “What? Isn’t that what people do on Friday nights after working their butts off?”

Mia laughed, a sound that was delighting me more every time I heard it. “I didn’t know if you’d have plans tonight, or want to be alone. Curling up with a movie would be perfect.”

Ten minutes later I had moved our food and drinks to the lounge, handing Mia the remote and throwing a blanket over us. “Official lounge fort rules,” I said. She sat back against the end of the sofa, stretching her legs toward me.

Impulsively, I grabbed her feet, pulling them into my lap so that I could massage her feet through her little purple socks.

“Oh wow,” she said softly, finding an old adventure movie that was just starting. “I knew being rich made you spoiled, but this is ridiculous.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “This special treatment is just until we’re safely married. The

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